Side airbag apparatus

• US 7,600,777 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2006
• Issued: 10/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyoda Gosei Company Limited (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyoda Gosei Company Limited (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Shigeyuki, Sato, Yuji, Tanase, Toshinori
• Primary Examiner(s): Dickson; Paul N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Freedman; Laura
• Application Number:
  US11/489,674
• Publication Number:
  US 20070024033A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,181 Days
• Field of Search: 280/730.2, 280/743.1, 280/743.2
• US Class Current: 280/730.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23146 seat mounted
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23384 having ends which are movable or detachable during deployment
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/231 characterised by their shape, construction or spatial configuration
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/2338 Tethers

Abstract

A side airbag apparatus includes an inflator and an airbag. The airbag that is deployed and inflated in a space between a body side portion of a vehicle and an occupant seated on a front seat in a passenger compartment by the pressure of gas injected from the inflator. The apparatus also includes a pair of hook devices and tethers. The hook devices are located at the rear end in the airbag. Each tether extends in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle and has an end hooked to one of the hook devices and an end fixed to the front inner end of the airbag. The tethers suppress the expansion of the airbag in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, thereby promoting the expansion of the airbag in the lateral direction of the vehicle. Further, the apparatus includes an occupant size detector for detecting the size of the occupant. When the size of the occupant detected by the occupant size detector is equal to or smaller than a reference size that is determined in advance, the hook devices release the tethers.

Claims

1. A side airbag apparatus comprising:

a gas generator;

an airbag that is deployed and inflated in a space between a body side portion of a vehicle and an occupant seated on a seat in a passenger compartment by the pressure of gas injected from the as generator, the airbag having a thickness along a lateral direction of the vehicle when deployed and inflated;

an expansion promoting mechanism provided in the airbag, wherein, when the airbag is deployed and inflated, the expansion promoting mechanism promotes the expansion of the thickness of the airbag, wherein the expansion promoting mechanism includes a belt-like tether that is located between opposite inner ends of the airbag and extends in a direction intersecting the lateral direction of the vehicle;

an occupant size detector detecting the size of the occupant; and

a promotion canceling mechanism that cancels the expansion promoting function of the expansion promoting mechanism when the size of the occupant detected by the occupant size detector is equal to or smaller than a reference size that is determined in advance such that, if the airbag is deployed and inflated, the thickness of the airbag when the size of the occupant is equal to or smaller than the reference size is less than the thickness when the size of the occupant is greater than the reference size.

2. The side airbag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tether suppresses the expansion of the airbag in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, thereby promoting the expansion of the airbag in the lateral direction of the vehicle.

3. The side airbag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the promotion canceling mechanism includes a hook device to which one of the ends of the tether is hooked, and wherein, when the size of the occupant is equal to or smaller than the reference size, the hook device releases the tether.

4. The side airbag apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the hook device includes a gas generating agent and a movable hook member, the tether being hooked to the hook member, and wherein, when the size of the occupant is equal to or smaller than the reference size, the hook member is actuated by pressure of gas generated by the gas generating agent such that the tether is released from the hook member.

5. The side airbag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reference size is an intermediate size between a size of AM50, which corresponds to 50th-percentile adult American male (height:

175 cm, weight 75 kg), and a size of AF05, which corresponds to 5th-percentile adult American female (height;

160 cm, weight 50 kg).

6. The side airbag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case where the size of the occupant is AM50, which corresponds to 50th-percentile adult American male (height:

175 cm, weight 75 kg), the expansion promoting mechanism promotes the expansion of the airbag in a section that corresponds to at least the lumbar region of the body of the occupant.

7. The airbag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the occupant size detector includes a sensor for detecting a position of the seat in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle.

8. A side airbag apparatus comprising:

an inflator;

an airbag that is deployed and inflated in a space between a body side portion of a vehicle and an occupant seated on a seat in a passenger compartment by the pressure of gas injected from the inflator, the airbag having a thickness along the lateral direction of the vehicle when deployed and inflated;

a hook device, wherein the airbag has a first inner end and a second inner end opposite to each other with respect to the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, the hook device being located at the first inner end;

a tether that extends in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, the tether having an end hooked to the hook device and an end fixed to the second inner end, wherein the tether suppresses the expansion of the airbag in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, thereby promoting the expansion of the thickness of the airbag; and

an occupant size detector detecting the size of the occupant, wherein, when the size of the occupant detected by the occupant size detector is equal to or smaller than a reference size that is determined in advance, the hook device releases the tether such that the thickness of the airbag when the size of the occupant is equal to or smaller than the reference size is less than the thickness when the size of the occupant is greater than the reference size.

9. The side airbag apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the hook device includes a gas generating agent and a movable hook member, the tether being hooked to the hook member, and wherein, when the size of the occupant is equal to or smaller than the reference size, the hook member is actuated by pressure of gas generated by the gas generating agent such that the tether is released from the hook member.

10. The side airbag apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the reference size is an intermediate size between a size of AM50, which corresponds to 50th-percentile adult American male (height:

175 cm, weight 75 kg), and a size of AF05, which corresponds to 5th-percentile adult American female (height;

160 cm, weight 50 kg).

11. The side airbag apparatus according to claim 8, wherein, in a case where the size of the occupant is AM50, which corresponds to 50th-percentile adult American male (height:

175 cm, weight 75 kg), the expansion of the airbag in the lateral direction of the vehicle is promoted in a section that corresponds to at least the lumbar region of the body of the occupant.

12. The airbag apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the occupant size detector includes a sensor for detecting a position of the seat in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle.